SIDE STREETS: A simple church shaken by robbery and desecration

It’s the kind of place where a small wooden sign reading “St. John’s Rectory” swings in the wind just to the right of a door that isn’t locked, though a handwritten sign taped to the door suggests you ring the doorbell.

It’s the kind of place where a small wooden sign reading “St. John’s Rectory” swings in the wind just to the right of a door that isn’t locked, though a handwritten sign taped to the door suggests you ring the doorbell.

A country church.

Inside the rectory, the Rev. Leonard P. Hindsley, pastor, sat, not behind his desk but on a chair drawn up to the visitor, face-to-face.

It was maybe two hours after Hindsley found out that Westport police had arrested a man they believe desecrated and robbed St. John the Baptist Church. One of the charges leveled against 29-year-old Martin Cutler is that he urinated in the church’s supply of holy water.

“It certainly is a health hazard,” Hindsley said, not laughing.

Hindsley, who teaches Western civilization, German and theology at Providence College, has been pastor at St. John the Baptist for seven years.

In 2011, on the 100th anniversary of the parish, it was Hindsley who found and refurbished the tabernacle used in the original church, located not too far from the present church.

“When they built the new church in the 1970s, they got all new stuff,” Hindsley said, adding that retrieving, refurbishing and using the older religious items pleased the congregation, many of whom fondly remembered the older church.

In the recent burglary, “they took everything you need to celebrate Mass,” Hindsley said. “They took the Missal, which has no monetary value.

“We were not able to celebrate Mass,” he added.

That situation was mended soon enough. A ritual was performed, cleansing the church of its desecration. Hindlsey pointed out that the holy water container has been drained, cleaned and refilled.

And Hindsley, who used the sacred objects every day to say Mass for his flock, cannot forget his first sight of the damage done by the thief or thieves.

“It was horrible,” he said. “The tabernacle was gone, things were strewn about.”

Hindlsey’s a good-sized man with a goatee and a certain kindness in his eyes. His glance is very steady when he talks about forgiving those who did this to St. John’s.

“I preached on that,” he said. “I preached that we need to forgive him.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t arrest him and put him in jail,” Hindsley said, his voice very steady.

“We don’t know his circumstances,” Hindsley said. “I hope this impresses upon him what he’s done to a lot of people.”

Hindsley expressed how his parishioners felt in very simple language.

“They were very saddened,” he said.

Some historians believe that the traditional burial place of St. John the Baptist, in what is now the Turkish village Sivasli, was desecrated by a Roman emperor named Julian the Apostate in A.D. 362.

Page 2 of 2 - “This has made us stronger,” Hindsley said.

“Side Streets” is a new column from Marc Munroe Dion, one that draws on his knowledge of the area and his affection for the city where he was born. It’s about people and places and history and the voice that only comes from one corner of Southeastern Massachusetts. Email Marc Munroe Dion at mdion@heraldnews.com.